The invention relates generally to assay systems and more specifically to biological assay systems.
Magnetic separation is a technique that is widely used for the purification or quantification of biological molecules, specific proteins, cells and nucleic acids. An advantage of this technique is that it provides rapid separation while applying minimal mechanical stress on an analyte. The technique is also simple, inexpensive and highly scalable. Further, techniques employing magnetism are amenable to automation and miniaturization.
The magnetic separation technique employs magnetically attractable particles for separation of specific targets from a liquid. The magnetically attractable particles are suspended in the liquid containing targets of interest in an impure or dilute form. The targets are captured by the magnetically attractable particles via a binding mechanism (for example, antibody antigen binding). Further, a magnetic field is applied to a container filled with the liquid causing the particles to migrate towards the field along with the bound targets and forming a pellet. While the magnetic field is still applied, remaining liquid may be discarded leaving the pellet intact. An example of such a technique may be found in U.S. patent application publication number 2006/0216697, assigned to the assignee of the present application.